Out of the Wardrobe
by Son of Lancelot
Summary: Begins immediately when the Pevensies come out of the wardrobe at the end of Narnia's golden age. What is life like for these kings and queens as they readjust to being children again? Read and find out. Strictly book-verse, no movie-verse.


_Out of the Wardrobe_

A _Chronicles of Narnia_ fanfiction

By Son of Lancelot

Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia and all characters in them are the property of C. S. Lewis. I am making no profit off this work.

*s reference direct quotes from _The Chronicles of Narnia_ and are noted at the end of the chapter. No more direct quotes are planned beyond this first chapter. They are kept brief and used only when I believe that to do otherwise would diminish this story's quality.

Chapter 1

*"Then in the name of Aslan," said Queen Susan, "if ye will all have it so, let us go on and take the adventure that shall fall to us."

Forward the four kings and queens walked, led by Peter, then Lucy, then Edmund, and lastly Susan. They had only gone a little distance when Lucy suddenly remembered that the iron tree they had just been at was called a lamp-post. She thought about mentioning it to the others, but the thought was driven from her mind when, a moment later, the branches around her ceased to be rough and were soft as fur. Though she could not see them she knew they were coats. No sooner did she realize this then Peter fell forward as if over a small ledge and Lucy, who was so close behind him that she had no time to stop, fell forward landing on her hands and knees beside him. Edmund had been following so close behind her that as she fell he took hold of her dress and fell on top of her. He quickly rolled off and stood, then reached his hand down to raise Lucy. Lucy reached up and took Edmund's hand. His grip was firm but awkward as if he thought he was exerting more strength than he actually was. Still, she managed to stand, a little too soon to be natural. "I dare say, half my legs have fallen off!" she declared. She was startled by the high pitch of her voice and nearly fell backward. Luckily Peter's hand caught her from behind and he straightened her up.

"No Lucy," Susan said. "Your legs are entirely there. They have just gotten shorter." Lucy looked down at her feet and saw that indeed Susan was right. Though she felt way too close to the ground to believe it she could see her shod feet. She realized there were fading voices coming from the passage beyond the door on the far wall.

"Good," Peter said, "Mrs. Macready and her party have gone on." Then, sounding quite upset, "Oh, what rotten luck! We have come back into England and I was looking forward to the banquet in three days."

"Surely the way is still open," Edmund declared and stumbled as he stepped up into the wardrobe with the door still open, for like Lucy he had become much shorter and was no longer used to his child body. He parted the coats and looked at the back of the wardrobe. "Oh no, the way is closed," he said, a slight whine to his voice.

"Well, you did say you would not turn back for the richest jewel in all Narnia," Susan reminded him.

"Do you suppose we shall ever get back?" Lucy asked, feeling rather disappointed herself but adventurous at the same time as she had felt when they had been at the lamp-post.

"I dare say we must," Peter said. "We have left four of the Professor's coats in Narnia."

"Now he shall have us for thieves," Edmund said.

"Not the Professor," Susan said remembering well how he had been so gentle with her and Peter when they had consulted him about Lucy's claims. She was surprised at how well she remembered it though it had been years since that day, or so it seemed. Indeed, in England, it seemed no time had passed at all.

"Well, surely we must tell him the truth. We are kings and queens after all," Peter declared.

"But do you think he'd believe us? I should think it wiser to keep it to ourselves lest a greater trouble come," Edmund said.

"It is not like you to suggest we lie," Peter told Edmund.

"If we told him, we would be marked forever as liars. You remember how we treated Lucy when she first told us she had got into Narnia."

"If there was only some way to prove it to him," Lucy said despairingly, for she felt a great desire to confide it all to him. He was such a kind old man.

"If I may be so bold, I do not believe he would easily dismiss us," Susan said. "Peter, when we talked with him all those years ago about Lucy, he seemed almost as if he believed her claims."

"Susan, you are right," Peter said, "though it is strange to hear of it as being years. It indeed seems so, but at the same time it feels as if it was only yesterday."

"How strange that returning to a familiar place after many years of being away does that," Lucy said. Indeed, in a way it seemed as if the whole adventure had been a dream, although it was far too recent to feel much out of place yet.

In the end they agreed that they must tell the Professor why four of his coats were missing from the wardrobe. As soon as Mrs. Macready's party had left the house and the housekeeper had gone out to town for the afternoon the children went to the Professor's study and Peter boldly knocked on the door. "Come in," his cheerful voice called. Peter opened door and led the way in.

"Excuse us for intruding sir," Peter said then stopped not sure what to say next.

"Not at all," the Professor said. "Please, sit down. I have been hoping you would come by soon."

"You mean you've been expecting us?" Susan asked.

The Professor smiled at her with the usual sparkle in his eyes that told one to not be afraid. "I wouldn't say I've been _expecting_ you," he said. "It was more of a feeling."

"You mean the sort of feeling you get when you know something will happen even if you can't explain how or why you know?" Lucy asked.

"Exactly," the Professor confirmed. "Now, do all sit down and tell me what is on your minds." He motioned to four chairs already set up as if he had been expecting them all day. They sat down quite by habit in their usual order as at Cair Paravel: Susan, Peter, Edmund and Lucy, from left to right facing them. And they felt as if they were once again in court, except that the Professor was now in their place and they in the place of the defendant. So turned around it was that none of them knew what to say. Luckily the Professor was a very understanding man and waited patiently.

Finally, Peter spoke. "Sir, we must confess to you that four of your coats from the upstairs wardrobe have been lost," he said. He waited expecting, even if very gentle, a reprimand, but the Professor said nothing and pressed his fingers together, waiting for more.

"Do you remember sir, how a few days ago, Peter and I told you that Lucy had found a country inside the wardrobe?" Susan asked. The Professor nodded that he did. "Well, now it turns out to be true." Lucy fidgeted in her seat. She hoped the Professor would not judge her. The Professor remained silent and listened for more. The children went on in turns, mostly Peter, telling him how they had gone into the wardrobe to hide and had ended up in Narnia. They told him how they had come to the faun's home to find it in shambles and how they had been led by the Beavers to the Stone Table. They told about Aslan and how he had defeated the White Witch (Susan and Lucy had never mentioned Aslan's sacrifice in Edmund's presence and even now they did not mention it, though Edmund had come to know about it from others). They told him how they had become kings and queens in Narnia. Then, only after they had finished the whole story did they realize how much they had said. They had never intended to say so much, even to the Professor. To their astonishment though the Professor never interrupted and never told them to stop making up stories or telling lies. In fact, when they had finished and looked in his eyes they still sparkled as if he had believed the whole story. Lucy noticed a gleam in them that she had only ever seen in her own siblings when Aslan had been near, and she knew that he did indeed believe the entire story. In fact, she would have not been at all surprised if he said he had been to Narnia himself. This he did not do, though he did not say he _hadn't_ either.

"We are sorry to have gone on so long," Peter concluded, "but you see now why four of the coats are missing." It seemed a very silly thing to say in summary of the great adventure they had just told. "Do you want us to get them back?"

**"No," he said, "I don't think it will be any good trying to go back through the wardrobe door to get the coats. You won't get into Narnia again by _that_ route. Nor would the coats be much use by now if you did!"

"But sir, shall we ever get back?" Edmund and Lucy both asked pleadingly.

***"Yes, of course you'll get back to Narnia again someday. Once a King in Narnia, always a King in Narnia. … And don't mention it to anyone else unless you find that they've had adventures of the same sort themselves. … Odd things they say--even their looks--will let the secret out."

After this, nobody spoke for quite some time, for the others noticed as Lucy had the gleam in the Professor's eyes. "Now," said the Professor, "if I may before dinner, I think I should like to write a letter to an old friend."

"What friend sir?" Lucy asked then regretted it feeling it had been rude to intrude.

"Oh, a childhood friend," he said, smiling. He returned to his desk and the children realized the conversation was over. They all stood and thanked the Professor for his time then walked out.

"I dare believe that friend he mentioned has something to do with Narnia," Lucy told the others as they went upstairs.

"And what makes you think that?" Susan asked.

"The way he mentioned her immediately after we had finished talking to him, as if he had not thought about this friend for a long time."

"It is no business of ours regardless," Peter said, though he felt Lucy may be right. It wasn't what he had said or how he had said it that told them. It was something unseen. In fact, none of them, not even Lucy, had caught Lucy's use of "her" in reference to the friend. More naturally they would have thought a close friend of the Professors to be a man, not a woman.

* * *

* _The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe_, pages 204-205.

** _The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe_, page 205.

*** _The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe_, page 206.


End file.
